This article has been excerpted from book "Graphics Programming with GDI+".

A region describes the interior of a closed graphics shape, or form. A form has two areas: a nonclient area and a client area. The nonclient area (which does not allow for user-drawn graphics objects) includes the title bar- and depending on the application, horizontal and vertical scroll bars. This area cannot be used to draw graphics objects. The client area is used to draw controls and graphics objects.

In the .NET Framework library, the Region class object represents a region. If you have ever developed a complex .NET graphics application that requires a lot of rendering, you may have used this object a lot.

Constructing a Region ObjectThe Region class provides five overloaded forms. Using these forms, you can construct a Region object from a Rectangle, RectangleF, GraphicsPath, or RegionData object, or will no parameters. The following code snippet creates Region objects in different ways using different arguments.

The Region class has no properties. After constructing a region, an application can use the Graphics class's FillRegion method to fill the region.

Table 6.1 describes the methods of the Region class briefly.

Table 6.1: Region method

Method

Description

Clone

Creates an exact copy of a region.

Complement

Updates a region to the portion of a rectangle that does not intersect with the region.

Exclude

Updates a region to the portion of its interior that does not intersect with a rectangle.

FormHrgn

Creates a new Region object from a handle to the specified existing GDI region.

GetBounds

Returns a RectangleF structure that represents a rectangle that bounds a region.

GetHrgn

Returns a window handle for a region.

GetRegionData

Returns a RegionData object for a region. RegionData contains information describing a region.

GetRegionScans

Returns an array of RectangleF structures that approximate a region.

Intersect

Updates a region to the intersection of itself with another region.

IsEmpty

Returns true if a region is empty; otherwise return false.

IfInfinite

Returns true if a region has an infinite interior; otherwise returns false.

IsVisible

Returns true if the specified rectangle is contained within a region.

MakeEmpty

Mark a region as empty.

MakeInfinite

Marks a region as infinite.

Transform

Applies the transformation matrix to the region.

Translate

Offsets the coordinates of a region by the specified amount.

Union

Updates a region to the union of itself and the given graphics path.

Xor

Updates a region to the union minus the intersection of itself with the given graphics path.

Conclusion

Hope the article would have helped you in understanding the Region Class in GDI+. Read other articles on GDI+ on the website.

This book teaches .NET developers how to work with GDI+ as they develop applications that include graphics, or that interact with monitors or printers. It begins by explaining the difference between GDI and GDI+, and covering the basic concepts of graphics programming in Windows.

C# Corner founder, 10-times Microsoft MVP, technical author, and software architect. Mahesh authored his first book, A Programmer’s Guide to ADO.NET in C# with APress at the age of 25. C# Corner is a memb... Read more